


Perfect Timing

by FireFaceOutlook



Series: Sidereal [1]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Attitude City, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-07-18 20:21:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16126025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireFaceOutlook/pseuds/FireFaceOutlook
Summary: “Are you okay?”  Jackie asked.Anti's eyes darted past him, at the dented car and dazed driver stumbling from the front seat, then back to him.  “Am I...”  He laughed, and it sounded a little hysterical, but he didn't seem to be devolving into a panic attack.





	Perfect Timing

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N: So I made a thing. I used a number generator to pick the characters, found myself a soulmate AU prompt, and this is what came out of it. I hope you guys enjoy.**  
>  _Prompt: A timer for when they shall first meet._ **[@r-evolve-art]**

The sudden, sharp sound of a fist landing hard enough on a locker to dent it had Jackie twitching despite himself; years of being on the receiving end of a bully's ire had long since fine-tuned his fight-or-flight reflexes, but he hadn't been bothered in months – not since he gained his powers, after being beaten thoroughly enough to be sent to the hospital, and stood up to his tormentors. He slowly glanced in the direction of the noise and found, a row of lockers away, his old bullies surrounding another kid, someone Jackie vaguely recognized from his Chemistry class.

Anthony McLoughlin was a junior who was the resident troublemaker of Attitude City's small high school, having multiple classes with seniors and pulling frequent pranks on them. He insisted that he be called Anti, and he gave off a punk vibe. He wore almost nothing but black – black shirt, usually with a band logo on it, ripped black skinny jeans, a black hoodie, and thick combat boots which were (surprise, surprise) _also_ black. Occasionally he had a splash of green amongst all the darkness, like his septic green gauges, which matched his hair color. That was honestly all Jackie knew about the guy, and he felt guilty because he was pretty sure they'd had classes together for years, and he usually tried to make friends with those who were shunned by the rest of the school, since he'd been an outcast himself once.

“Hey, Jackie,” someone greeted from behind him, making him jump. When he turned around, he relaxed when he saw it was just Mark, one of the members of the Cool Patrol – the group who subsequently caused Jackie's worst beating at the hands of his bullies _and_ were the only ones who knew about his superhero identity. “Sorry,” Mark continued. “Didn't mean to startle you.”

“No, no, it's okay,” Jackie assured him, adjusting the straps of his school bag. “I was just...”

He turned to look at Anti once more, and Mark followed his gaze. Both winced when Anti tried to shoulder his way past the bullies and was shoved – _hard_ – back into the lockers. As the skinnier student struggled against them, his jacket's hood fell from where it was bunched up around his throat and Jackie stared at the bandages that were suddenly in sight. He abruptly recalled the school handing out papers for everyone and their parents, informing them about one of the school's student's suicide attempt and to watch for any signs in their classmates and children. Jackie hadn't thought much of it at the time, but he _knew_ it was Anti who'd tried to take his own life, and Jackie, who was supposed to be a _hero_ , hadn't even considering befriending the (frankly quite intimidating) punk when he returned to the school.

Mark cleared his throat, gesturing behind himself. “I came over to let you know that Danny was wondering if you were coming to the hideout today.” The hideout was a series of connected rooms just outside Attitude City, in the sewers. It didn't smell all too bad, with all the work the Cool Patrol and Jackie put into it, and it was clean, too; they even had designated rooms.

Down the hall behind Mark, Danny was leaning against the wall, complaining to Ninja Brian, who had detention (again) for sharpening the handle of a spork at lunch somehow and attempting to shank another student who probably had it coming for one reason or another.

“Um...”

A shout recaptured his attention and when Jackie turned around, it was in time to witness the bullies manhandling Anti down the corridor and towards the exit. Jeers of _'faggot'_ and _'freak'_ reached the young hero's ears and a cold ball of anger sank in his chest.

“I'm gonna need to take a rain check,” he said.

Mark patted his shoulder with a knowing look on his face before jogging down the hall to meet up with Danny while Jackie all but sprinted for the exit. Bursting through the doors, looking both ways didn't reveal any of the other boys, but Jackie could hear Anti cursing up a storm in his rough, warbling voice, and he followed it. He finally caught up to them as the stronger males tried forcing Anti to cross the street at one of the corners.

“Come on, we just want to show you something,” one of them insisted, grunting when one of Anti's flailing hands struck him in the face.

 _“Fuck you,”_ Anti spat, but that just made his harassers try harder.

“Hey!” Jackie shouted, marching up to them.

He successfully caught the attention of all of them, Anti included, and the punk halted his struggling. The bully in front of him had still been putting all of his weight into pushing Anti when Jackie appeared, and succeeded in shoving him into the middle of the street when the green-haired student had stopped resisting.

A car horn ripped through the air and everyone gazed wide-eyed at the incoming vehicle – heading straight for Anti at too high a speed despite the squeal of its brakes. Jackie lunged forward, pushing past the burly students, afraid that he'd be too late as Anti raised his arms to defend himself. Jackie planted himself between the incoming danger and his classmate, catching the car by front, his fingers smashing through the headlight glass. The momentum caused the rear of the car to rise, and Jackie spread his arms in the imitation of a bear hug, leaning into it until it landed back on all four tires. He released it with a strained pant, checking himself for damage – his sleeve had torn, his fingers were littered in small cuts, and his arm had a couple down it as well, but they weren't bleeding too badly.

The anger returned and he whipped around to face Anti's antagonizers, but they'd already scattered, so he turned to Anti, instead. The other boy was gaping up at him and cradling one of his arms close – the one he fell on, Jackie realized.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Anti's eyes darted past him, at the dented car and dazed driver stumbling from the front seat, then back to him. “Am I...” He laughed, and it sounded a little hysterical, but he didn't seem to be devolving into a panic attack. “Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for, uh, not letting me be killed by those _assholes_.”

Jackie smiled down at him. “No problem; it was the right thing to do.” He offered a hand to help Anti up. “I'm Jackie.”

As Anti reached for his hand, Jackie's eyes drifted to the numbers on his wrist, which had been counting down since the moment he was born and seemed to now be moving in slow motion.

  


**_00:00:00:00:00:03_ **

  


**_00:00:00:00:00:02_ **

  


**_00:00:00:00:00:01_ **

  


“I'm Anti.”

As their hands clasped and Jackie helped the younger boy to his feet, he noticed that on Anti's wrist, beneath the countless wristbands of black and green and blue, sat his own timer:

  


**_00:00:00:00:00:00_ **

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N: Whelp, that's it. I hope you guys liked this! Let me know if you wanna see more, because there's plenty more prompts like that that I would love to explore.**


End file.
